Archive for April 20th, 2006

The Times has suspended Michael Hiltzikâ€™s Golden State blog on latimes.com. Hiltzik admitted Thursday that he posted items on the paperâ€™s website, and on other websites, under names other than his own.

Liberal L.A. Times columnist-blogger Michael Hiltzik and conservative prosecutor-blogger Patterico have been butting heads and online personas ever since the former joined the blogosphere last October.

Former President Bill Clinton, left, jokes with Congressman Charles Rangel, center, and Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean at a DNC fundraising dinner in New York, Monday, April 10, 2006.

“The first thing we want is tough border control,” he said. “We have to do a much better job on our borders than George Bush has done. And then we can go to the policy disagreements about how to get it done.”

Republicans reacted with surprise to Mr. Dean’s announcement, which puts the DNC chief’s views at odds with those of many Democrats in Congress.

“If Dean means what he says about border enforcement, that would put the Democrats somewhere to the right of President Bush on immigration,” said Rep. Steve King, Iowa Republican.

A spokesman for the Republican National Committee dismissed Mr. Dean’s “newfound commitment to border security” as “not believable.”

But, what did the Chairman of the Democrat National Committee actually say?

The Quotes:

Mr. Dean said he wants “immigrants who obey the law and pay taxes to be able to apply for citizenship. We support earned legalization vigorously. And, much to my surprise, so do the American people.”

“We don’t like guest-worker programs,” said Mr. Dean, a candidate for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination. “I don’t like guest-worker programs. I think the president’s guest-worker program is essentially indentured servitude. It doesn’t help the immigrant, and it threatens wages.”

“Don’t forget — the Republicans have been in power for five years. They’ve had the House and Senate and the White House most of that time. And they have done nothing about immigration.”

To Summarize the Democrat Party’s Fall position on immigration:

1. Tough border control but what does that mean? Fence? Troops? No specifics….

2. Amnesty for the 12 million illegal aliens already in the USA but what does ‘earned legalization” mean? Is it the Kennedy-McCain bill?

3. No Guest Worker Plan because it depresses union wages and is involuntary/indentured servitude.

It sounds to Flap that the Democrats should support Senator Bill Frist’s secure the border bill rather than the Kennedy-McCain bill voted out of the Senate Judiciary Committee. But, Howard Dean as the Democrats fearless leader has to balance the unions vs. Latino immigration activists vs agricultural interests in order to troll for votes and campaign funds.

And why did over 200 House members vote against the House immigration reform bill passed in December? And why did Senator Reid (Democrat Senate Minority Leader) block amendments to compromise legislation prior to the Easter recess?

Congressman King (R-Iowa):

“If Dean and his Democrats in the Senate are serious, they could force the president to make a decision to sign or veto an enforcement-only package,” he said. Mr. Bush and several Senate Republicans have sought to tie border enforcement to a guest-worker plan — a program that many of the Republican Party’s conservative supporters sharply criticized.

“Someone should remind Howard Dean that it was [Senate Minority Leader] Harry Reid [Nevada Democrat] who obstructed immigration reform, underscoring the fact that Democrats would rather manipulate the issue than reform it,” he said. “President Bush and Republicans in Congress have increased border-security funding by more than 65 percent, expanded the number of border agents by 30 percent and significantly upgraded technology on the border.”

Howard Dean, the mouth that roared, has been BUSTED for pandering to all sides again.

Iranian Defence Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar gestures after a wreath laying ceremony in Baku April 20, 2006. The prospect of the United States taking military action against Iran over its nuclear programme is empty talk, Najjar said on Thursday.

The prospect of the United States using force to halt Iran’s nuclear programme is empty talk, Iranian Defence Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar said on Thursday.

U.S. President George W. Bush says he is using diplomacy to curb Iran’s atomic ambitions, but has not ruled out military options, even including a nuclear strike, to prevent the Islamic Republic from acquiring nuclear weapons.

“The United States has been threatening Iran for 27 years and this is not new for us. Therefore we are never afraid of U.S. threats,” Najjar told reporters during a visit to neighbouring Azerbaijan.

“If you take into account the fact that they are not doing anything, this shows it is just talk,” he said.

“We are ready to resolve all issues through negotiations (but) if we are confronted with something, we are ready to deal with it,” the minister added.

The chief of the General Staff said Wednesday that Russia would honor its commitments on supplying military equipment to Iran.

“We discussed supplies of military equipment to Iran, including the Tor M1, in the framework of bilateral cooperation, but it does not fall into the category of strategic weapons,” Army General Yury Baluyevsky said after talks in Moscow with NATO Supreme Allied Commander in Europe General James Jones.

“And I can assure you it will be delivered under the control of the relevant organizations,” he said.

At the end of 2005, Russia concluded a $700-million contract on the delivery of 29 Tor M1 air defense systems to Iran.

The Tor-M1 is a fifth-generation integrated mobile air defense system designed for operation at medium, low and very low altitudes against fixed/rotary wing aircraft, UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicle), guided missiles and other high-precision weapons.

Despite strong criticism from the United States, Russia has maintained that the systems could be used only to protect Iran’s air space.

Baluyevsky also said Russia’s Armed Forces would not be involved in any military conflict in Iran.

“I do not think the conflict [in Iran] will turn into a war,” he said. “Russia will not propose the use of its armed forces in a potential military conflict on either side.”

A nuclear power station being built by Russia in Iran presents no threat, Moscow’s top nuclear official said here following a US demand for the project to be shut down.

The building of the Bushehr nuclear power station does not threaten the non-proliferation regime,” Rosatom nuclear agency head Sergei Kiriyenko told journalists in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek.

US Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns said during a visit to Moscow Thursday that “it is important for countries to stop cooperation with Iran on nuclear issues, even on civilian nuclear issues like the Bushehr facility.”

Burns made clear that he was talking about various countries’ work with Iran’s nuclear industry. However, Russia is Iran’s biggest nuclear partner and is building the country’s first atomic power station at Bushehr.

“A number of countries are continuing to permit the export of dual-use materials that could be used, and we think in some cases are being used, to help the growth of Iran’s nuclear industry,” Burns said.

“It is the view of my government that it would be appropriate now for those individual governments to stop that practice and no longer permit it.”

Russia will decide its stance on the Iranian nuclear crisis based on a report next week by the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the deputy foreign minister said Thursday.

Sergei Kislyak said consultations would be held after the April 28 release of the report by Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency. Both Russia and China have been resistant to levying sanctions against Iran in response to suspicions over its nuclear program.

“We will determine our reaction depending on the contents of the report,” Kislyak was quoted as saying by the ITAR-Tass news agency. “The IAEA has ideas of what is happening and what is not happening in Iran. We’ll be relying on these evaluations.”

China on Thursday renewed calls for a negotiated settlement.

“We hope relevant parties will exercise restraint and show flexibility to properly handle the Iranian nuclear issue, to create conditions for the solution of the issue through negotiations,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said at a regular briefing in Beijing.

TAR-Tass quoted an unnamed Iranian source as saying that Russian diplomats were meeting Thursday with an Iranian delegation led by Javad Vaidi, deputy secretary of Iran’s National Security Council. The Russians were briefing the Iranians on the results of meetings in Moscow this week between the five permanent U.N. Security Council members, plus Germany, ITAR-Tass reported.

And anyone in the international community EXPECTS Russia to sanction their business partner, Iran?

The United States will push for a punishing resolution in the United Nations Security Council. Then, listen to the squeals coming from Russia and China.

The United States and Israel are alone in dealing with Iran’s uranium enrichment program AND they WILL deal with it.